ePortfolios, social constructivism and assessment - Stephen Bright (University of Waikato)
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This short presentation seeks to explore the potential relationship between a well-known theoretical pedagogical framework (social constructivism) and a particular eportfolio software tool (Mahara). The presentation proposes that the congruence between these two elements can then provide a framework for teaching and learning activities involving eportfolios, and in particular, designing quality learning and assessment activities using eportfolios. Note however, that although this matching exercise has been referenced to a specific software tool, the principles may also be applied to other software tools which are used for creating eportfolios.
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ePortfolios, social constructivism and assessment - Stephen Bright (University of Waikato)
- 1. ePortfolios, Social Constructivism and Assessment: a match made in heaven Stephen Bright Centre for Tertiary Teaching and Learning
- 4. Aaron Wells @ Catalyst
- 6. ‘There is nothing so practical as a good theory’ (Kurt Lewin, 1951)
- 8. Social Constructivism (1) ●New knowledge as building upon the foundation of previous learning ●Context important in shaping learners’ knowledge development ●Learning as an active rather than passive process ●Language and other social tools important in constructing knowledge (Anderson & Dron, 2011)
- 9. Social Constructivism (2) ●Metacognition and evaluation as a means to develop learners’ capacity to assess their own learning ●Learning environment as learner-centred & stressing the importance of multiple perspectives ●Knowledge needing to be subject to social discussion, validation, and application in real world contexts (Anderson & Dron, 2011)
- 10. Social constructivist theme Mahara eportfolio affordances Context is critical in shaping learners’ knowledge development different eportfolio pages or collections can be contextualised for different purposes
- 11. Social constructivist theme Mahara eportfolio affordances New knowledge builds upon the foundation of previous learning Range of artefacts & reflection shows progression in learning and skills over a longer period of time (e.g. multi-year programmes)
- 12. Social constructivist theme Mahara eportfolio affordances Learning as an active rather than passive process student-centred, student actively creates pages and collections, and decides who it is shared with, for how long, what the other person(s) can view, and whether they can give feedback or not
- 13. Social constructivist theme Mahara eportfolio affordances Language and other social tools’ importance in constructing knowledge Student can use a range of language media - podcasts, video and images as well as written text as artefacts contributing to knowledge construction
Editor's Notes
- This pecha kucha is about a concept rather than a research report it seeks to explore the potential relationship between a well known theoretical pedagogical framework (social constructivism) and a particular eportfolio software tool (Mahara).
- The paper proposes that the congruence between these two elements can then provide a framework for teaching and learning activities involving eportfolios, and in particular, designing quality learning and assessment activities using eportfolios
- Social constructivism has long been part of mainstream educational theory and practice. Social constructivism includes the idea of designing a learning environment where learners can act and have authorship, as well as interact with each other and the teacher in order for learning to take place.
- Mahara is an open source ePortfolio – Mahara is the New Zealand Maori word for ‘thoughts’ and the software originated in New Zealand as a collaboration between universities and polytechnics. Today the project is managed by the New Zealand company Catalyst
- So my focus in this paper is in making linkages between social constructivism and eportfolio software - in this case specifically Mahara but this analysis could be applied to other eportfolio software such as Chalk and Wire, Pebblepad, or Google Sites
- For those of you who may be wondering why I embarked on this task, I would like to quote one of my favourite academics, Kurt Lewin, who said ‘there is nothing so practical as a good theory’ and social constructivism is, in my view, a good theory
- What I discovered as I started to explore what social constructivism is was that some writers provide a detailed analysis of the different ‘flavours’ of social constructivism such as situated constructivism. radical constructivism, cognitive constructivism, and co-constructivism.
- I opted for a simple summary of constructivism from an article by Anderson and Dron (2011) outlined on this slide – please read as much as you can before the slide changes!
- The summary of constructivism from Anderson and Dron continued – please keep on reading
- Some examples of linkages I found between social constructivism and Mahara : context is critical in shaping learners’ knowledge development – in the Mahara eportfolio pages or collections can be contextualised for different purposes
- New knowledge builds upon the foundation of previous learning – Mahara enables this because a range of artefacts and reflection can collected to show progression in learning and skills over a longer period of time than, say. A single assignment.
- Social constructivism views learning as an active rather than a passive process. The Mahara eportfolio is a creative process and product where the student actively creates the pages and collections, and makes decisions on who will view and give feedback on particular pages.
- Social Constructivism emphasises the role of language and other tools in constructing knowledge. Mahara allows the student to use a rich range of language media – podcasts, video as well as written texts and images as part of the knowledge construction process.
- So I hope by now you are starting to see the connections between social constructivism and Mahara. This doesn’t mean that the Mahara software forces you to design in an exclusively social constructivist way, but it does have the functionality to allow you to design this way.
- This constructist theory/Mahara congruence can be extended to guiding the learning design in terms of utilising best practice for designing assessments which are the best type of assessment in terms of the affordances of the Mahara eportfolio software tool.
- For example eportfolios are excellent for Group work assignments involving collaborative learning and critical evaluation, with tasks allocated for each group member requiring discussion and consultation before a final ‘product is submitted for evaluation.
- Learning journals are another good fit with eportfolios, they encourage an ongoing personal connection with learning and link theory to practice in relation to the learner’s knowledge and experience - this helps develop the reflective practice necessary in many professions including teaching.
- Field work/practicum reports – these provide a rich source of learning in an authentic context and an eportfolio provides a useful way of gathering a range of evidence which shows what learning has occurred during the practicum or field trip, as well as a space to reflect on this learning.
- So I hope this brief pecha kucha overview of social constructivism and the linkages that are possible with Mahara have convinced you that this is a worthwhile theoretical framework to guide your own learning and assessment design when you are considering using eportfolios. Nga mihi nui kia koutou katoa.